New Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif approves plan to privatise PIA before June 15: Report

Islamabad: Pakistan's newly-elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has approved the privatisation of the country's ailing national flag carrier PIA before June 15, according to a media report on Thursday.

In 2022, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) stood as the country's third-highest public sector loss-making entity, requiring Pakistani Rs 11.5 billion per month solely for servicing its debts, the Express Tribune newspaper reported.

According to the PIA’s financial report, the airline suffered a loss of Rs 60.71 billion in the first six months of 2023 because of the depreciation of the rupee against the USD.

Former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar finally joined the Prime Minister’s meetings on economic issues after initially avoiding them, and Muhammad Aurangzeb, who is being tipped as the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Finance, was also present at the meeting held on Wednesday, the report said.

The newly-formed government headed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) carried forward the leftover work of the Special Investment Facilitation Council and the interim setup, marking the continuation of the previous setup’s policies, the newspaper reported.

Sharif was briefed by the privatisation secretary on the possibility of privatising PIA by June 15. However, the report said the prime minister instructed him to further shorten the period required to sell off the entity.

The deadline to privatise PIA is subject to the timely implementation of the scheme of arrangements to divide the national flag carrier into two entities and park Pakistani Rs 622 billion debt into the new holding company.

The proposal cannot be implemented until the PIA’s creditors give the no-objection certificates, the PM was informed, the report said.

Sharif also endorsed the restructuring plan of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), a law enforcement agency that investigates tax crimes, which had been cleared by the caretaker government, but faced halts in its implementation by the court and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The approved restructuring was contrary to the manifesto of the PML-N that had promised to separate the customs department from the FBR and place it under a ‘to-be-created’ economy ministry.

Shehbaz Sharif was on Monday sworn in as Pakistan's 24th Prime Minister, taking over the reins of the cash-strapped country for a second time since 2022, amidst staggering economic and security challenges.